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Ufile.ca

Free for students

  • Last Updated:
  • Feb 20th, 2015 11:44 am
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Member
Mar 11, 2008
495 posts
1045 upvotes
London

[Ufile.ca] Free for students

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Free
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100% off
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This is a yearly promotion which I first learned about here at RFD a long time ago. So long as you have tuition, you get your tax return free. There are many other free tax services out there (here's looking at you, StudioTax), but this is the one I've used forever so I stick with it. I can confirm that I followed the instructions today and my return is free.

Copy/paste of info from the link:

Students file free regardless of their income

File online on time for free!

The Canadian Federation of Students and UFile ONLINE, Canada's favourite online tax preparation Web site, have joined together to provide FREE online tax preparation and filing for all Canadian post-secondary students.

To be eligible for this special offer...

You must be a resident of Canada, have tuition fees and have attended school for at least one month during the tax year being prepared. You must also be designated as the FAMILY HEAD (the primary member of the family) for purposes of your tax file in UFile.

To take advantage of this offer...

Log in to a new or existing UFile account for the current tax year.
Enter your tuition fees and months at school and click

Locate the "Special offer" form in UFile's QuikClik Navigator. (You may need to scroll down the screen.)
Enter the following Canadian Federation of Students "Free for Students" special offer code:
FAY1493

Click NEXT.

Enter the rest of your tax information and then you can print or NETFILE your return whenever you are ready -- free of charge!
15 replies
Deal Addict
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Dec 17, 2008
2031 posts
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supersaiyan wrote: Thanks op
Stop thread crapping
Realistically speaking, what advantages does a paid tax software like TurboTax our Ufile have against the free ones like SimpleTax and StudioTax?
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Jun 29, 2004
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PiusPatronus wrote: Realistically speaking, what advantages does a paid tax software like TurboTax our Ufile have against the free ones like SimpleTax and StudioTax?
I don't think there is a benefit to using TurboTax or Ufile anymore. If anything, the paid solutions might offer better support.
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Jun 3, 2008
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Most tax software is free for students, as most tax software lets you use it for free if you earn less than $xx,xxx. I'm not convinced the user friendliness of UFile over StudioTax to be worth the pain of not having all the applicable credits move to your parents (see below).

Using UFile as a student and as the 'Family Head' in UFile is a major pain unless you know what numbers you need to give to your parents to transfer tuition credits (AND hope they know where to plug this number into their own return). Also, depending on your income/age, your parents may be able to also take advantage of transit pass (eg. many schools have mandatory bus pass in student fees), medical costs (eg. most if not all unis require you to get a health/dental plan) which also don't get transferred automatically unless it's part of one big return.
Member
Mar 11, 2008
495 posts
1045 upvotes
London
supersaiya thanks for the support, fudge_u thanks for the suggestion.

PiusPatronu... honestly, I think it comes down to preference. Last year I tried UFile, StudioTax and the free H&R Block. I have somewhat complicated taxes so for me it came down to ease-of-use (since they were all free). My opinion was UFile was still the best for me. Interestingly, each of the 3 services gave me different refunds based on the same data. H&R Block had completely missed a deduction related to child care and education.
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Jun 3, 2008
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mrumble wrote: supersaiya thanks for the support, fudge_u thanks for the suggestion.

PiusPatronu... honestly, I think it comes down to preference. Last year I tried UFile, StudioTax and the free H&R Block. I have somewhat complicated taxes so for me it came down to ease-of-use (since they were all free). My opinion was UFile was still the best for me. Interestingly, each of the 3 services gave me different refunds based on the same data. H&R Block had completely missed a deduction related to child care and education.
H&R Block is absurdly bad and they charge far too much... but who can blame them when they have to cover the leasing costs in lots of expensive areas for the full year?

If you entered the same data and got different refunds, then you didn't enter the same data. Have you tried reviewing the actual return itself to identify the differences?
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Jan 24, 2009
951 posts
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Unionville, Ontario
supersaiyan wrote: Thanks op
Stop thread crapping
Fudge_u isn't threadcrapping,just providing his experience with a viable alternative for individuals who may not be students.

OP and fudge_u thanked

I've also enjoyed using u file for the past few years, I've found it easy to use and clearly laid out.
Member
Mar 11, 2008
495 posts
1045 upvotes
London
I did... the difference came in the software identification of deductions based on various data. It would seem I'm in a different situation than you. I am the head of my house, have a wife and 2 kids with some other tax implications as well. My parents do not get any of my tuition. I work full time and went back to school after a few years of being out of school (as does my wife). It gets quite complex when figuring out who gets to deduct child care and for what period. I'm sure if I went through each return from each software line by line I'd find where they messed up, but I wasn't about to do that.
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Dec 16, 2007
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RFD rule: you can't have a tax software thread without someone soliciting studiotax.
Same thing goes with Smartcash when any thread about credit cards comes up
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Jun 3, 2008
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mrumble wrote: I did... the difference came in the software identification of deductions based on various data. It would seem I'm in a different situation than you. I am the head of my house, have a wife and 2 kids with some other tax implications as well. My parents do not get any of my tuition. I work full time and went back to school after a few years of being out of school (as does my wife). It gets quite complex when figuring out who gets to deduct child care and for what period. I'm sure if I went through each return from each software line by line I'd find where they messed up, but I wasn't about to do that.
Sounds like it's because childcare deduction is claimed by the lower-income spouse except when the lower-income spouse is claiming the education credit (or is in jail). You don't have to go through the entire return in detail, just trace through T778 (Part C and/or D) to see where the problem lies.

As the programs are programmed differently, it's more likely that one program requires you to specifically check off a checkbox allowing the transfer before transferring the deduction to the higher-income spouse while the other program assumes it regardless of whether it's right/desired (eg. on the professional CCH TaxPrep software the changes are made directly on the T778 form).

Endnote: All tax software is free for students and I'd be concerned if students just use the first 'free' one for the rest of their life without consideration of the alternatives. The ability to import information from a previous year's return locks you in to a particular tax software because you'll be too lazy to change later. So be forewarned!
Member
Mar 11, 2008
495 posts
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London
hitman_24 wrote: RFD rule: you can't have a tax software thread without someone soliciting studiotax.
Same thing goes with Smartcash when any thread about credit cards comes up
+1... that's why I figured I'd break the ice... But does it work with WIND?
Member
Mar 9, 2008
496 posts
43 upvotes
SoroSuub1 wrote: Sounds like it's because childcare deduction is claimed by the lower-income spouse except when the lower-income spouse is claiming the education credit (or is in jail). You don't have to go through the entire return in detail, just trace through T778 (Part C and/or D) to see where the problem lies.

As the programs are programmed differently, it's more likely that one program requires you to specifically check off a checkbox allowing the transfer before transferring the deduction to the higher-income spouse while the other program assumes it regardless of whether it's right/desired (eg. on the professional CCH TaxPrep software the changes are made directly on the T778 form).

Endnote: All tax software is free for students and I'd be concerned if students just use the first 'free' one for the rest of their life without consideration of the alternatives. The ability to import information from a previous year's return locks you in to a particular tax software because you'll be too lazy to change later. So be forewarned!
Very true. I've been freerolling UFile forever since I manage to always take at least one eligible course for tuition every year. I fear the day (2017) when I realistically might have to switch because I sure as hell am not paying for tax software. It'll be a bit of a headache starting from scratch however
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Jun 3, 2008
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svelten wrote: Very true. I've been freerolling UFile forever since I manage to always take at least one eligible course for tuition every year. I fear the day (2017) when I realistically might have to switch because I sure as hell am not paying for tax software. It'll be a bit of a headache starting from scratch however
I don't know what triggers the 'free' part of UFile, but I wonder if you could put yourself down for $1 of tuition to get the free tax return and adjust/delete the $1 through MyAccount on the CRA at a later date.

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